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PREFACE
The DoD and the VA have placed a priority on the standardization of care in the
military and VA health systems to achieve greater consistency, quality, and
cost-effectiveness in the delivery of health care services for active duty personnel, dependents, and retirees. In this context, the Army Medical Department
(AMEDD) has been working in partnership with RAND to implement DoD/VA
clinical practice guidelines proactively across the Army health system.
One of the key products of this AMEDD/RAND partnership is an Implementation Guide designed to assist Army medical treatment facilities (MTFs) in guideline implementation. The response to the guide was so enthusiastic within the
Army that it was decided the guide should be adapted for use across the DoD.
This Implementation Guide is designed as a resource for those key staff members charged with carrying out the guideline implementation effort within an
MTF. The guide contains information, instructions, and examples for each of
the major steps in implementing a practice guideline: establishing supportive
conditions and an implementation structure, building an effective Implementation Action Team, developing and executing an implementation action plan, and
monitoring and feedback on implementation progress. In preparing the guide,
RAND has drawn upon current knowledge from both research and field experiences, including many valuable lessons learned from the field in the AMEDD/
RAND Guideline Implementation Project (see Introduction for a description).
This project is being sponsored by the U.S. Army Medical Department and is
being conducted jointly by the Arroyo Center’s Manpower and Training Program
and RAND’s Center for Military Health Policy Research. The Arroyo Center is a
federally funded research and development center sponsored by the United
States Army.
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For more information on the RAND Arroyo Center, contact the Director of
Operations, (310) 393-0411, extension 6500, or visit the Arroyo Center’s Web
site at http://www.rand.org/organization/ard/